a maxim divine
by Phantom Thief Oryx
Summary: "What's the point of gettin' wasted if you don't confess something to someone and wind up regretting it in the morning?" — Raven/Yuri


**a/n;;** written for areyougame on dreamwidth! just something dumb & self-indulgent for my otp~

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There's someone waiting for him in his room.

He stops just outside the door, hand straying impulsively to the hilt of his sword. If he were more like Flynn he'd be able to tell for sure, by the angle of the doorknob or a faint footprint on the stairway or some equally ridiculous detail. But instead it's just a hunch. A feeling. Yuri knows, in the way that he just _does_, sometimes, that there is a presence in his room that shouldn't be there.

He counts to three silently before bursting through the door, unsheathing his blade in a split second and pointing it directly at the intruder's throat.

Raven stares back at him, wide-eyed and rather pale in the face. He puts his hands up in a sign of surrender and laughs nervously, leaning as far away as possible from the gleaming tip of Yuri's sword.

"Geez, kid," he mutters. "Not a very warm welcome! What'd you think, I was some kinda assassin lyin' in wait?"

Yuri sighs, exasperated, and sheathes his blade once more. "How did you get in here, old man?"

"The landlady let me in," Raven says, back to his usual grinning idiot self now that there's no longer a weapon leveled in his direction. "Told her I was a friend o' yours, and she unlocked the door for me no questions asked. Even asked me if I wanted some tea! Very sweet of her, I gotta say."

_Mental note_, Yuri thinks. _Talk to the landlady about letting random weirdoes into my room._

He runs a hand through his hair wearily. "So what are you doing here, exactly?" he asks, hanging up his sword and kicking off his boots.

Raven presses a hand to his chest and shakes his head in mock solemnity. "Oh, Yuri! I'm hurt! Do I really need a reason to visit one of my best pals?"

Yuri fixes him with a disbelieving stare.

"Well okay," Raven admits. "Maybe I sorta kinda had a reason. I was hoping… that you might be interested in partaking in some fine Heliordan wine." He winks and gestures towards the bottle sitting on Yuri's kitchen table. "It's a vintage, y'know. Cost old Raven a pretty penny."

Yuri smiles faintly and raises an eyebrow. "So you're looking for a drinking buddy? What about the Raven Brigade?"

"They're such serious drunks," Ravens sighs. "No fun at all, lemme tell ya. Start blathering on about justice and honor and the like after a couple rounds. It'll kill your buzz in an instant, drinkin' with those guys."

"Judith, then?"

"Off to Myorzo for a week, unfortunately." Raven reaches up as if to wipe away an imaginary tear. "It's hard, bein' without my lovely Judy for so many days. I'm sure she's missin' me like crazy too. 'Tis a sad thing indeed, when destined lovers are separated so tragically!"

Yuri massages his temples tiredly, huffing out a sigh. "Fine, fine," he says. "I'll drink with you. But if you pass out I'm dumping your ass out on the street, old man."

"Sounds like a deal," Raven says, grinning broadly. He procures some glasses from the nearby cupboard and pours out a drink for each of them.

"So what's the occasion?" Yuri asks, taking a seat at the table and propping his feet up on the opposite chair. This might be the first time all day that he's allowed himself to relax, and he has to admit that a stiff drink is a nice bonus. He picks up his glass and swirls the red liquid around a bit, examining it with a critical eye. He's no expert on the topic of spirits, but the old man clearly wasn't lying about it being a vintage.

Raven rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, well… It's her birthday, actually."

That is enough to give Yuri pause. His eyes travel from Raven to the white bow leaning against the wall and then back again.

"You mean…?"

"Yeah." He laughs, but the sound rings false in Yuri's ears. "I know you kids're always going on about lookin' towards the future and whatnot. And normally I'm right there with ya. But… us old men need to reminisce once in a while, yanno? I just can't help it, whenever this day rolls around." He lifts his glass, then, and smiles in a way that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "To Casey."

"To Casey," Yuri echoes. He downs a sip of wine and finds it very pleasant – sweet, but not overbearingly so, with a rich, fruity aftertaste.

They sit in pensive silence for a long moment, until finally Yuri asks:

"What was she like?"

Taken aback, Raven blinks at him. "Am I dreamin'?" he says. "Mister 'Too Cool For School' Yuri Lowell is actually curious about the details of someone else's life?"

"Shut it, old man," Yuri says, rolling his eyes. "If you come barging in here asking me to celebrate someone's birthday, I think I deserve to know a little about them."

"Hmm. Fair enough, I guess. Casey was… Well, she was…" A look of realization passes across Raven's face in this moment, and he sits up a little straighter in his chair, turning to stare at Yuri strangely. "She was a lot like you."

"… Like me?"

"Yeah," Raven murmurs. "I've never thought of it that way before now, but yeah. She was like you. A leader, yanno? The kind of person that other people just want to follow. To hell 'n back, if that's what it takes."

At this, Yuri has to laugh. "I don't know about Casey," he says, "but I'm no leader. You should know that by now."

Raven just smiles. "There's different kinds of leaders, Yuri. _You_ should know _that_ by now. There's the kind you follow 'cause they've got vision – 'cause they're good and righteous, or at least you think they are. And then there's the kind you follow for other reasons. Maybe they're the only one willing to do what needs to be done. Maybe they're willing to sacrifice their own soul for the wellbeing of others. In the end you're just drawn to them, somehow. Like a moth to a flame, if you wanna be all cliché about it.

"Casey… She was a bit o' both, I'd say. She was honorable, but she was also… different. Maybe her honor is what _made_ her different, in the end." Raven's expression is nostalgic and fond as he lifts his glass to his lips. "I dunno how to put it. I suppose… I wasn't really alive 'til I met her. Like a sleepwalker or something. Just goin' through the motions, day after day. She woke me up."

"And you're seriously comparing her to _me_, of all people?" Yuri says, incredulous.

"Yeah, I am." Raven grins; pours him another glass of wine. "Maybe someday you'll see it, too."

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He's always prided himself on being able to hold his liquor. Drinking was one of the few arenas in which he'd never lost to Flynn, who was a lightweight of the highest caliber (and a pretty hilarious drunkard to boot). But even he can't deny that this Heliordan wine is deceptively strong. He's only had a few small glasses of the stuff, but he's already feeling rather warm and sleepy, his thoughts sluggish and difficult to grasp. And Raven, who has polished off nearly half the goddamn bottle on his own, is clearly no longer even in the vicinity of sober. His eyes are unfocused, his face is flushed a faint shade of red, and his hair has fallen out of its usual ponytail and is sticking up a bit in the back.

"You're looking a little out of sorts, old man," Yuri says, with a wry smile. "I thought you were practiced in the fine art of alcohol consumption."

Raven makes a noise halfway between a groan and a laugh. He lays his head down on the table wearily.

"Usually I am," he mumbles. "But some days… Some days you just gotta let yourself get drunk off your ass. Today, it seems, is one of those days." He pauses, as if in deep thought, and reaches up to brush the hair out of his eyes. Despite his inebriation, his gaze is oddly somber. "Hey, Yuri. Y'know what we should do? We should tell each other a secret."

"… A secret?" Yuri echoes. "What the hell are you on about?"

"That's what drinking buddies do, yanno! They confide in each other. You tell me somethin' you've never told anyone else, and then I'll do the same. It'll be great, gettin' something off your chest like that. Don't you think?"

"As if, old man." Yuri shakes his head bemusedly. "You're the last person I'm gonna start spilling my guts to."

Raven pouts, looking startlingly like a kicked puppy. "Aww c'mon, Yuri! Don't be such a hardass! What's the point of gettin' wasted if you don't confess something to someone and wind up regretting it in the morning?"

Well, he's got a point. Yuri throws his hands up in defeat.

"Fine, whatever," he sighs. "Sometimes… Sometimes I really want to run away from the Lower Quarter. People keep looking to me for advice – keep asking me to solve disputes and fix their problems and I just… That's not me. I'm a fighter. I'm not meant for this, whatever _this_ is. Some people even asked me to be the Lower Quarter's representative at the upcoming Council. Do I _look_ like a fucking politician? Goddamn." He drains the rest of his glass and slams it down on the table a little too forcefully. "I know that things are better now. But sometimes… I really miss travelling the world with Brave Vesperia. The stakes were so high then. It was exciting, y'know? The battles especially. I'm worried that nothing will ever be quite so exciting again. And I'm worried… I'm worried what it says about me, that something like that is my main concern."

"… So that's why you almost slit my throat earlier?"

"Hmm?"

Raven smiles up at him lazily. "Earlier, when you busted the door down and almost took my head off. It's 'cause you're on edge, right? I mean, there's the monsters that wander into town from time to time, but that's not enough of a challenge, is it? You're a thrill-seeker, Yuri. You need a tough opponent, or else ya get restless."

"… Yeah," Yuri says, and slumps back in his seat. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"We should go somewhere," Raven murmurs. "All of us – even that weird dog of yours. The Lower Quarter will be alright without you for a little while. And the Raven Brigade will be alright without me. We should… We should go on another adventure. There's still places we haven't seen, after all…"

He trails off, and when Yuri glances up he sees that Raven's eyes are closed.

"Oi, old man. Wake up, idiot! I told you I'd dump your ass out on the street if you passed out. Don't think I won't." He reaches over and smacks Raven upside the head, but the other man merely makes an unintelligible noise of protest. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me… At least sleep in the goddamn bed instead of drooling all over my table."

He gets up and grabs Raven by the arm, hauling him over to the bed and depositing him there in an unceremonious heap. As he turns to walk away Raven reaches out suddenly and grabs him by the wrist.

"Wait," he says, his voice muffled by the pillow. "I still haven't… told you my secret."

Yuri rolls his eyes. "Forget it, old man. Just shut up and go to sleep, will you?"

But Raven shakes his head vehemently. "No," he says. "I want to tell you. It's… It's only fair."

Yuri stares at him for a long moment, then sighs and sits down on the edge of the bed. "You're impossible, y'know that?"

"So I've been told." Raven's fingers – rough, calloused and strangely cold – are still locked around Yuri's wrist in a grip that's bordering on painful. "… Do you remember when we went to Ehmead Hill a while back? When I picked a fire lily, and you all got on my case about botany?"

Yuri thinks for a moment, and then nods.

"Back then, I said somethin'. I said… That I'd just curl up 'n die if you ever left me alone. And then I laughed, probably. Like I always do. Like it was all just a joke. But… I meant it. I meant every word. That's my secret." Raven leans forward, then, and wraps his arms around Yuri's waist, burying his face in the younger man's shirt. "If it weren't for you, and Judy, and those kids… I dunno, Yuri. I dunno what woulda become of me."

"Geez, old man," Yuri mutters, and pats Raven on the back awkwardly. "What the hell are you doing, thinking about stuff like that? Keep preoccupying yourself with what-ifs and you'll drive yourself crazy. Brave Vesperia isn't going anywhere, y'know. We'll always be around, some way or another."

"Can you promise that?" Raven asks. He sits up; takes Yuri's face in his hands and stares into his eyes intently, his expression severe and just a little bit desperate. He's way too close – Yuri can see every detail of him, from the lines of tiredness around his eyes to the faint stubble on his jawline.

"Yeah," Yuri says. "I can promise that."

He wonders, briefly, why it is he's not pushing Raven away. 'Don't get so close to me, drunkard,' he should be saying, with that distant, casual affectation he's spent years perfecting. More than that, he should've thrown this idiot out ages ago – should've made good on his promise to kick him to the curb.

But then Raven is leaning forward and kissing him hard on the lips, and all these thoughts abruptly disappear.

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Yuri wakes to faint snores in his ear and someone's hand resting on his hip.

He's confused, at first, until the memories of the previous night come rushing back to him, and then he promptly elbows Raven in the gut without much further ado.

"Wh-why?" Raven gasps, clutching at his stomach.

Yuri rolls out of bed and shrugs. "Just because, I guess. Not a fan of having people touch me while I sleep."

"You're so cruel, Yuri! To an old man with a godawful hangover nonetheless!" Raven pushes himself up into a sitting position and winces at the sunlight streaming through the window. "And after all that we shared last night – "

Yuri glowers at him from across the room, casually reaching for his sword. "_Last night_," he says, "you're lucky I was verging on intoxicated, old man. Or else you'd be missing a finger right now. Or a hand. Or possibly something much, much worse."

"Now, now," Raven says, smiling in that infuriating way of his. "No need to act so shy, my dearest Yuri! It's a known fact that even men are susceptible to old Raven's charm and dashin' good looks! In fact I – hey! Wait! What're you doin'?"

Yuri grabs him by the collar and begins dragging him forcefully towards the door.

"Should've done this hours ago," he mutters, and pushes Raven out on to the landing, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey!" Raven exclaims, his voice muffled and indignant. "This is elder abuse, yanno!"

"Go home, old man," Yuri calls back. "You're disturbing the peace."

A loud, overdramatic sigh can be heard, followed by the sound of footsteps as Raven finally slinks away.

Yuri stands there in his room, thinking. He's not usually one for such obvious sentimentality, but playing honorary chieftain to the people of the Lower Quarter is getting old quick. He might go insane if he doesn't get out of Zaphias within the next few days. And so he walks over and flings the window open, leaning out on the sill.

"Oi, Raven," he calls, and the other man pauses on the stairwell, glancing up at him curiously. "I'm thinking of heading for Halure tomorrow. To see if Estelle and Rita are up for a journey or whatever. You wanna come along? We could go to Dahngrest after, to pick up Karol. And I'm sure Judith'll find us on her own. She usually does."

Raven stares at up him silently for a moment. And then, little by little, that dumbass grin falls back into place.

"Yeah," he says. "I think I could go for that."


End file.
